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Hellbreath (Volt Driver)
The Volt Driver is a scratch-built, Metro-made man-portable electromagnetic accelerator (Rail-Gun) which uses electromagnetism to fire projectiles at extremely high velocities. The Volt Driver is the electrical counterpart to the Tihar, Miller is the only NPC that uses the Volt Driver, starting in the chapter D6 - and cannot be used by Artyom without the Ranger Pack*. It is available in the DLC, the Ranger Pack. * In the PC version, the Ranger Pack is included for free. Overview The Volt Driver fires small metalic ball bearings - the same kind of sniper rounds fired by the Tihar - using electromagnetism; the gun's magnetic rails are powered by the charge from a built-in battery, and magnetic coil. Unlike the Tihar, which is pneumatic (uses air pressure) to accomplish the same result (and has to be pumped), the Volt Driver has to be charged using a built-in Charger. This charger is seperate from the one that is used to power Artyom's Flashlight and Night Vision Goggles. The Tihar and Volt Driver have rather similar performance statistics, and are quite similar in utility. The key differences are that the Volt Driver does more damage when fully-charged (It is one of the strongest weapons overall, frequently bringing down Howlers in a single body shot), fires slower, and has better sustainability (lesser-charged rounds from the Volt Driver still do fairly good damage, as opposed to the Tihar, which tends to do poor damage unless pumped up). However, the Tihar has considerably better accuracy (especially over a distance), is silent (the Volt Driver has an extremely loud and distinctive report), and access to a zoom scope (which makes it a very effective sniping tool). In contrast, the Volt Driver lacks any sighting in general except for a laser sight. In general, the Volt Driver is better at closer ranges, whereas the Tihar is significantly better from afar, though both weapons can work just fine at close range (if the Tihar is pumped and uses its fast fire rate) or long range (if the player has the time to aim the Volt Driver) in trained hands. In addition to its high firepower, the Volt Driver can make melee attacks by shocking enemies with the electrified rails at the front of the weapon's barrel. Whilst this consumes energy (and becomes notably less effective the lower the Volt Driver's battery is), it makes for an effective deterrent up-close and is quite good at forcing close-combat enemies back, such as nosalises. At full charge the Volt Driver allows upto five melee attacks before it requires to be charged, The Volt Driver is one of 4 guns (others being the Tihar, Revolver, and Hellsing) highly recommended for Ranger Hardcore mode. The laser dot makes up for the loss of the crosshair, and the Volt Driver uses the same extremely inexpensive ammo the Tihar uses. All in all, it is a toss-up which gun is better; both offer considerable advantages and are worthy guns in every respect. How it Works As you can see on the gun itself, it has 2 distinctive, boxy prongs on the front of the gun - each of these contains a full set of magnetic strips, tentatively called "rails". A negative electrical current is run down one rail, which goes through the projectile, and back down the other rail. This current sets up a net magnetic field oriented "up", relative to the rails. The projectile's current is "sideways" relative to the rails, and this current interacts with the net magnetic field to produce a "forward" force. Sadly this type of system is currently impossible in a man portable system. The power requirements are too great and the inefficency of using a ball bearing as a projectile make this a nice dream gun, but alas, only a dream. The technology behind it is sound however it is simply impractical as an infantry weapon. Obtaining * Lost Tunnels – appears on the bag with the ammunition. * Armory – appears on the bed with the Heavy Automatic Shotgun. * Sparta Base – appears on a the pile of boxes to the left of the weapon rack. Tactics This gun can effectively be used in any situation except situations that require stealth or where there are many weak enemys (like ameobas). This gun is also highly suggested in Ranger Easy and Ranger Hardcore difficulties as the damage increase makes body shots an instant kill on every thing except librarians. Its laser sight and easily visible magazine capacity negates the HUD removal of hardcore mode. Trivia *You can see a working railgun - one that hasn't been miniaturized like Miller's here. * Scoring 50 kills with the Volt Driver in one playthrough rewards the player with the Shocking (Achievement) *In reality, the correct term of the Volt Driver is Railgun. *It is most notably used by Miller in D6, and at the bottom of the tower. *If Miller is killed while carrying the gun, it will be dropped. The gun then is highlighted, signaling the player that he is able to pick it up, however, you cannot pick the weapon up. *The front of the gun looks to be made of rusty metal with small grooves running along it. *As mentioned previously the Volt Driver isn't really a Gauss type weapon but is a Rail Gun, both types of weapons use electricity to generate electromagnetic fields to accelerate a projectile at extreme velocities but each are designed very differently; a Gauss weapon (otherwise known as "Coilguns") would use Electromagnetic Coils to accellerate a ferromagnetic round while a Railgun uses two parallel rails and a projectile that is a good conductor of electricity to complete an electric circuit (see the Wikipedia links above for a more complete explanations of the differences between the two principles and more detailed methods of operation). *If left idle long enough, Artyom will poke a wire on the weapon, then look at his finger, showing a metal splinter. *There is a Volt Driver on the top of one of the bookcases with the equipment in the ammo exchange kiosk in Riga. *The Volt Driver is the second-most-expensive weapon available in Metro 2033, with only the Kalash 2012 with all the accessories being more valuable. Even if you do not intend to make use of it, it is highly useful as you can sell it for a huge number of Military-Grade bullets (Over 170). *Whilst you can't buy one in-game (all the ones you find are free), it would sell for roughtly 241 MGR if it were available in a shop. *An interesting tip for those 'strapped-for-cash'. You can aquire the first Volt Driver in Lost Tunnels , which can be used to great effect for a large part of the game. Once you reach Armory Station , and the second one appears, you can sell one of the Weapons in exchange for a Duplet and you will recieve a lot MGR . You still have the other Volt Driver, as well as the Heavy Automatic Shotgun , if you wish to sell or use that instead. This helps greatly with the Scrooge Achievement. Category:Weapons Category:Metro 2033 Category:Metro Universe